Today in Organic: March 10, 2010

Curious deer at Colinwood Farm / Mark Andrew Boyer

• Deer can be a farmer's worst enemy, but they're still nice to look at. This one came up close to us in the early morning hours at Colinwood Farm in Port Townsend during the West Coast Tour last year.

• It's not blight, but tomato farmers are still suffering. Seventy percent of the Florida’s tomato crop was lost during the extended cold weather, reports Robin Shreeves. "Supply is down; prices are up."

• The LA Times profiles the "crop mob" phenomenon, which, as reporter David Zucchino describes it, is "a roving band of volunteers dedicated to helping young farmers build sustainable small farms."

• The city of San Francisco is taking some heat for giving processed sewage sludge to local gardeners.

• USDA and the Department of Justice are holding joint workshops to examine antitrust violations of big food companies. 

• James McWilliams (author of Just Food: Where Locavores Get It Wrong and How We Can Truly Eat Responsibly serves up another stinker in the New York Times Freakonomics blog, dismissing sustainable food advocates as "primitivists."